Tweiss as Nice
by FiercesomestDefenestrator
Summary: In hindsight, walking in on Weiss in the shower was probably not the best way to get on her good side. Complete!
1. Showered with affection

**A/N: This is Fiercesomest, and welcome to the show! Once again, I'll remind folks that Defenestrator and I are two very separate people! She writes Blake and Yang, while I write Ruby and Weiss. This story falls in our rough timeline after Road to Recovery (so White Rose is assumed by everyone except for Ruby and Weiss). We kind of realized that Weiss and Yang had 'issues' and let them have at it.**

**All credit for the name of the fic goes to Defenestrator, who is a genius.**

* * *

"You should have seen her face, Blake."

Sleepy amber eyes glanced sideways at the perpetual grin gracing a certain brawler's face. Yang had a habit of talking Blake's ears off between classes, but considering they had just survived another one of Professor Port's "lectures" she was more than willing to listen, especially when the subject was none other than their favorite heiress.

"She was angry, I'm guessing?"

A short bark of laughter interrupted Yang's grin. "Red as Ruby's cloak when she realized her entire class's notes had vanished! Invisible ink pens might be my new favorite trick. She didn't even see me switch them out~"

Blake quirked an eyebrow. "You are either very brave or very stupid to prank Weiss when it comes to her studies."

"Please, she was _fine _once I gave her the highlighter to make the invisible ink visible again~"

"Oh?" Blake smirked, leering sideways, "Is that why you were limping earlier?"

"OK so she _might _have kicked me in the shin." Yang waved a hand dismissively, "Her wedges are heavy. And scarily accurate."

Blake smiled and rolled her eyes, the bright gold suddenly sparking with something altogether mischievous. She placed a hand on her partner's shoulder. "Yang, I know you love teasing Weiss, but really, is that any way to treat your future sister-in-law?"

Amethyst eyes went wide. "My... my future _what._"

"Think about it Yang. If she and Ruby are serious... well, down the line, who knows what could happen. You could end up with another sister."

"Another... sister..." Yang slowed to a stop, staring out into space.

"...Yang?" Blake stopped as well. She waved a hand in front of blank amethyst.

"_Another sister!_" Yang exploded to life, teeming with more energy than when she'd been hit by an Atlesian Paladin. "Blake you're right! Where is Weiss right now?!"

"Well," Blake tilted her head, thinking for a moment, "she and Ruby should have just finished up Applied Long Range Tactics... so probably the lockers?"

"OK! Thanks Blake!"

The tail end of Yang's sentence drifted away with her as she dashed around the corner and out of sight.

A small smile crept across Blake's face. "...You're welcome."

* * *

In no time at all, Yang found herself at the edge of the school, strolling through the lockers, passing classmates left and right as she searched for a shock of white or red.

Finding neither of her teammates among the lockers themselves, she proceeded to the next logical location - the showers. Two steps in, she caught the familiar scent of Weiss's vanilla shampoo. Huge smile in place, Yang followed the sweet fragrance down the rows and rows of showers, stopping at the very last stall.

She threw open the curtain.

"Hey, Weiss!"

* * *

It had been a long day for Weiss Schnee. A long week, really.

There had been an essay due for Dr. Oobleck's class Tuesday that she'd spent at _least_ the past fortnight on, only to have her page of meticulously cataloged sources get lost after one of Ruby and Yang's impromptu games of indoor 'tag' (aka 'destroy everything in the dorm'). She'd spent hours stripping down her side of the room searching for it before Blake showed back up and plucked it out of a pile on her desk like it was nothing.

Glynda's combat practice had been replaced with endless suicide drills after a certain student-who-shall-remain-nameless-but-is-definitely-named-_Jaune_ failed to achieve adequate times in an obstacle run she had put together as a break from one-on-one sparring.

Add to this the near-heart-attack she'd had when her notes from Professor Port's class had _vanished, _and Weiss was frustrated, exhausted, and wound tighter than a watch spring.

Thus the shower.

The heiress rinsed shampoo from her long, snowy hair, tilting her head to make sure she got it all. Steam rose from the hot water, warm and pleasant when she breathed in. No one (especially not Ruby, who was showering a few stalls down) had decided to take advantage of the acoustics and sing terrible, off-key pop songs. Yes, overall, showers were top-notch as a relaxation technique second only perhaps to thrashing training dummies with Myrtenaster. Given the suicide runs, however, hot running water was the superior option. It was Friday and Professor Port's lecture had been the last of the day, so she'd take her time, get herself all sorted out before dinner, and then spend a nice, long weekend studying and getting organized for her upcoming projects in advanced Dust theory.

That was the plan, and it was a great plan until a certain blonde brawler came crashing through the shower curtain like a bull through tissue paper. The bigger girl's greeting was lost in Weiss's high-pitched shriek.

"Yang Xiao Long _what is wrong with you?!_" the very wet, very naked heiress made a grab for the edge of the shower curtain in an effort to cover herself while she spluttered at Yang, her shock quickly turning to anger, "Get out! Get out _this instant."_

"Woah hey, relax," Yang smiled down at the white-haired personification of fury. She held her hands up in a gesture of peace, "I just want to know what your favorite kind of cookies is."

"_OUT,"_ Weiss clutched the curtain to her chest with one hand and summoned a hasty white glyph with the other, intending to launch Yang backwards out of the stall.

"Ok OK!" Yang took a few steps back and stood awkwardly in the long hall of shower stalls. "So... is it sugar cookies?"

"It's shut-up-and-never-_ever-_speak-to-me-again you tactless, boorish incompetent excuse for a human being," Weiss spat, fumbling for the shower knob. The water dripped off as she snatched her sodden towel from the floor. The rest of her clothes were on the bench in the hall, and there was no way she was stepping out there in only a towel with Xiao Long in the vicinity. "_Leave,"_ she ordered.

"That's... a very specific kind of cookie..." Yang's smile faltered. "Uh... I'll just," she shuffled sideways, looking dejected, "I'll go - uh, catch you later Weiss!" She bolted.

Weiss stood breathing hard for a second, then, after the blonde's hurried footsteps receded, she tucked her hair behind her ear and leaned out to snatch her clothes.

"Hey."

Weiss started so badly she dropped half of her things on the wet floor.

"Uh, you okay, Weiss?" Ruby poked her head out of a stall farther down the line, dark and red hair dripping. She noticed the way her partner's jaw tightened and quickly ducked back in.

The heiress plucked her now half-soaked skirt off the communal shower floor with disdain.

This did not bode well for her carefully planned weekend.

* * *

**A/N: *Insert evil laughter here***

**\- Fiercesomest**


	2. By the Books

A little while later when the sun was starting to set but the cafeteria wasn't quite open yet, Weiss settled into her usual chair at her usual secluded table near the east window of the library. The muted sound of shuffled papers and scribbling pens filtered through the high shelves stacked with electronic records and printed volumes alike. This particular section of the reference area—dry catalogues of names and dates related to a score of historical and political figures—held little draw for the students of Beacon Academy, and Weiss had been pleased to find it completely deserted today.

Her hair was still damp from her less than relaxing shower, and her skirt was a spare she'd worn yesterday. It was wrinkled, but the pattern hid it suitably well. In any case, she would do laundry tomorrow and everything would be fine.

For now, however, she had a half hour to kill before dinner- the perfect amount of time to get ahead on her Grimm Studies classwork. She squared up her loose-leaf notebook paper and cracked open her textbook.

Lurking behind a nearby stack of dusty tomes filled with ancient records of the weather, Yang held perfectly still, waiting until she heard the telltale scratch of pen on paper before she moved, slowly peering around the topmost tome's well worn edges to lock onto her target - Weiss Schnee, future sister extraordinaire, calmly sitting and studying as usual. She was right where Blake said she'd be. Yang took a moment to smile, thankful for her ever-helpful partner. The dispirited brawler had gone to Blake after her utter failure to bond with Weiss in the showers, and Blake's advice had been short and sweet - if Weiss seemed tense, help her relax.

It was brilliant, so simple, why hadn't she thought of it? Well no matter, now was her chance!

Taking care to move as silently as possible - this was a library after all - Yang crept right up behind Weiss and paused, watching over the heiress's shoulder as she meticulously scrawled line upon line of exquisite calligraphy. Weiss's fingertips barely missed Yang's shirt when they reached back to grip briefly at the knot of muscle sitting between her shoulder and neck. Yang's eyes lit up. The second Weiss went back to writing, firm hands landed on the heiress's shoulders.

"Hey, Weiss!"

The heiress exploded up out of her seat, twisting to get out of her attacker's grip.

"Get your hands off me, you-" she caught sight of a tumble of golden hair and recognition dawned on her, "_You_. What do you think you're doing?!"

"Well hello to you too!" Yang was all smiles as she gently pushed Weiss back down into her seat. The heiress seemed extra jumpy today. She _definitely_ needed a bit of relaxation time. "You seem really stressed - let me give you a hand," Yang said as sweetly as she could while she dug her thumbs into Weiss's spring-loaded shoulder muscles with practiced motions, gently kneading out whatever tension she found.

"Are you insane?_ Ouch,_" Weiss tried to wrench free as Yang held her down in her chair and jabbed her shoulders hard enough to leave bruises. Poise and grace be darned, she abandoned her seat in an attempt to slither under the table and escape.

"Hah, Weiss, there's nothing insane about relax-" Yang blinked when she felt Weiss slip from her fingers and drop beneath the table. "Hey, wait!" She ducked under the table herself and reached out to place a hand over one of the heiress's quickly retreating ankles. "Where are you going?"

"Away from _you_," Weiss hissed, turning and falling back on her elbows on the rough carpet as Yang caught her boot. She kicked at the girl's fingers with her free heel, snarling, "What is your problem?!"

The brawler winced when her thumb found itself smashed underneath Weiss's cold, hard sole and she reluctantly let go, smile faltering. "Oh uh, no problem here..." Amethyst eyes darted left, then right, then landed back on Weiss, searching. "So... does this mean you _don't _want a massage?"

"Oh, of course not, I just felt like dodging under the table _for no reason_," the fencer shot back, scowling as she shoved a chair's legs to clear a path out from under the table.

"Oh, OK, well - oh! Hang on!" Yang shuffled backwards, but smacked the back of her head against the underside of the table in her haste to stand. She hissed as she got to her feet, holding her head with one hand, and extending the other to Weiss with squinted eyes, "Let me help you up..."

But Weiss was already gone.

* * *

"Honestly," the heiress muttered to herself, booking it through the maze of shelves to put some distance between herself and her blonde teammate. She paused somewhere between the mathematics and astrology sections to catch her breath.

She never got the chance.

"Hey Weiss!" Yang's cheerful voice came from right behind her, "Do you need help reaching anything?"

The heiress whirled, bristling at what she interpreted as an oblique reference to her diminutive stature. She demanded in a whisper, "Why are you doing this?"

A huge smile spread across the brawler's face as she beamed down at Weiss, eyes sparkling with something warm. "Why not?"

The smaller girl glowered, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger in an attempt to divine what crimes she must have committed to deserve having to deal with such an infuriating piece of work. "Are you serious?"

Yang stood transfixed, staring openly at the smaller girl, visibly torn. For some reason everything kept going wrong - why did Weiss keep getting angry? It was discouraging to say the least. And yet... that glower. That disgruntled pout. Even though the brawler was doing her very best to be completely earnest for once, and this was the complete opposite of the response she kept trying for - she couldn't help but admit, this _face,_ yes, this was definitely one of the top reasons she teased Weiss so often. Angry Weiss was just...

"...So _cute~_" Yang snatched the heiress up into a patented big-sister bearhug, spinning her around in a tight circle as quietly as possible - it was a library after all.

Too late, Weiss had tried to lunge out of range, only to have the air crushed out of her lungs by Yang's sudden embrace. She went from exasperated to breathless, spitting fury, fighting tooth and nail to break free.

"_Put me down_," she voiced in a shrill whisper. The edge of her boot raked Yang's shin and, more by accident than design, she found herself gripping a fistful of the brawler's golden hair.

One simple inadvertent tug on those tangled locks and Yang's eyes flew open, joy flipping to rage in zero seconds flat. Instinct kicked in and she reacted with deadly force, gripping her assailant's shirt in one fist and spiking her towards the ground in a modified chokeslam, but a brief glimpse of ice-blue passing by on the voyage downward caused her to jerk to a halt at the last second.

The brawler blinked a few times as she knelt over the smaller girl, awkwardly holding the heiress by the shirt, just a few inches above the dusty library floor. With one deep breath, she lowered Weiss the rest of the way to the ground, collected herself as best she could with the heiress's hand still gripping her hair, and forced herself to smile, eyes flickering with intermittent bursts of crimson. "OK. I put you down. Now please let go of my hair?"

Weiss's desire for self-preservation forced anger onto the back burner, and the red flickering in Yang's irises was enough reason to oblige the brawler. The heiress slowly uncurled her fist.

Yang felt the other girl's hand slip out of her hair, seemingly pulling her rage away along with it. Eyes wide and posture slack, she collapsed back against the nearest shelf of tomes and sat for a moment, eyeing Weiss, who picked herself up off the carpet. Yang put her face in her hands, mortified. This was all wrong. All she wanted to do was somehow express her affection, but she had nearly _annihilated _her very own future sister. Even though Yang was fairly certain it wouldn't help at all, it was all she could do to mutter a muffled apology through her fingers.

"Sorry Weiss."

The heiress took a steadying breath, straightening her collar. She looked down at Yang with a stormy expression. The apology begged a response. But what was the point? Given the days'- weeks'- past behavior, Yang obviously wasn't capable of listening to anything she had to say.

Weiss's lips twisted into a scowl as she turned and strode from the aisle, heading for the library exit.

She was done studying, and more than done dealing with Yang Xiao Long.

* * *

**A/N: Wow, we're very late after whatever that was that had the ff site down all Saturday. Oh well! Tune in next week for the continuing saga of Yang's miserable failures to be nice to our favorite, disgruntled heiress.  
**

**-Fiercesomest**


	3. The language of flowers

"Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaakkkkkeeeeeee."

A very unhappy, very crestfallen brawler slammed the door shut behind her, slouched across the room, and flopped face-first onto Blake's bed. Blake placed a calming hand on her partner's head, careful to mind the wild gold beneath her fingers.

"Blaaaaake I ruined everything. Weiss hates me. _Forever,_" Yang turned her head to stare up at the silent Faunus beside her, practically exuding despair.

"What did you do." Blake's eyes remained fixed on her book.

Yang flipped over onto her back, stealing Blake's pillow and hugging it to her chest. "Well, I tried to be nice - I tried so _hard,_ Blake! I gave her a massage, tried to help her up off the floor, offered to get things off of the tall bookshelves, I even gave her a hug! But, well, she sort of... grabbed my hair and..."

Blake finally looked up from her book, meeting Yang's desperate eyes with an even gaze of her own.

"Did you hide the body?"

She took a pillow to the face.

"Blake this is serious!" Yang sat up and rounded on her smiling partner as the pillow she'd thrown slid back into Blake's lap. "I might not have _actually _killed her but I think I've killed any chance of use _ever _being close," Yang allowed herself to flop right back down, face once again firmly hidden behind her hands. "Worst. Big-sis. Ever."

"Are you even sure you're the big sister? Do you even know when her birthday is?"

"... Worst. EVER."

Blake's smile softened. She put her book down, leaned over, and gently pried the brawler's hands away from her face, holding fast to her wrists. "Don't despair, Yang. There is still hope for reconciliation."

One amethyst eye cracked open to peer up at warm amber. "Yeah?"

"Of course. All you have to do is apologize."

Yang's face contorted in sorrow. "But I _did, _and she just..." her words trailed off into miserable silence.

Blake frowned in thought. "So, if an apology with words didn't work... Then how about, an apology with flowers?"

Yang blinked. Sat up. Excited energy seemed to spark around her. She rounded on Blake. "When does the florist close?"

"If you leave right now you should make it in time."

Blake suddenly had the air in her lungs crushed out of her by a tenacious hug of gratitude, courtesy of her partner who was now sprinting to the door.

"Thanks Blake you seriously are the best I'll be back!"

_SLAM_

After taking a moment to regain her breath, Blake rose to leave as well. She quietly shut the door behind her on her way to meet up with Weiss and Ruby in the cafeteria, smiling to herself the entire way.

* * *

The cafeteria bustled with students and the occasional professor, all finished with classes for the weekend and bursting with plans for the few free days they had ahead of them. Friday was always 'mystery leftovers' night, so there was a fair amount of groaning over the noodle soup that had once been some kind of tetrazzini and some speculating about which dishes were finding second life in the casserole being served. The overhead lighting cast everything in a warm yellow-orange.

Instead of joining Team JNPR at their usual table near the center of the dining hall, Weiss collected a plate of casserole and situated herself at a table in the corner nearest the exit. She tried to shut out the sounds of the other students laughing and carousing while she picked at her food, watching the double doors like a hawk. Yang Xiao Long would _not_ be sneaking up on her again. Nor would she be grabbing her, lifting her off the ground, or in any way making any sort of physical contact. The heiress gripped her fork so hard her hand shook.

Something touched the back of her neck. Weiss swatted at it and came away with a piece of velvet smoothness in her hand. A rose petal? Another bit of red tumbled into her lap and she turned to see Ruby beside her on the bench, throwing bits of her semblance into her hair.

"Ugh, you little—" Weiss stood sharply, upsetting her plate. Her place at the table was scattered with petals. She flushed. How long had her partner been sitting there?

"Yikes, Weiss, I just wanted to see why you were sitting over here by yourself," Ruby scooted her tray closer to Weiss's, scooping up a forkful of mystery casserole. Her silver eyes were earnest, but a little guarded after the heiress's outburst. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes," Weiss gritted through her teeth as she brushed off her seat and sat back down. She refused to admit that she'd been taken off-guard in the library. Yang's hair was a sensitive issue, but so was Weiss's height and her state of dress in the shower and she hadn't attempted to murder the blonde for grabbing her from behind and squeezing the life out of her shoulders. Then again, maybe whatever had gotten into Yang had run its course. Maybe they could forget about it and go back to living in mutual tolerance of each other for the rest of their days at Beacon.

Ha. Right. She picked what remained of an already-dissolving rose petal off her fork. "Everything's fine."

"That... sounds kind of completely not true, but if you want to talk about something else..." Ruby swallowed her food and trailed off, watching as Weiss stabbed a piece of what may or may not have been eggplant much harder than was necessary.

"So, is there a reason we're shunning team JNPR today?" A familiar raven-haired figure appeared beside Ruby, holding a bowl of soup in one hand and an open book in the other. Amber eyes locked into the gripping narrative, Blake took a seat beside her team leader, absentmindedly twisting her spoon between her fingers as she read.

"Hey Blake," Ruby greeted her, shoveling another bite of casserole into her mouth, "Weiss is angry about something."

"I am not!" Weiss protested, realizing too late that her flaring temper was a giveaway to the contrary. She relaxed her grip on her fork. "Fine. I'm angry, and I wish you would both just go and eat or something."

"Um, we are eating," Ruby pointed out, leaning her elbows on the table.

"Are you not hearing properly?" Weiss tilted her chin imperiously, "I said _go_ and eat. Not just eat. Go as in _go away._"

Blake smiled at Ruby before side-eyeing Weiss with the barest hint of a smirk. "Are you trying to steal my title of team RWBY's resident antisocial?"

"Shut up, you," Weiss returned to dissecting her casserole, glancing to make sure no tall, blonde maniacs had come in through the double doors.

"A competition over being the most antisocial," Ruby scratched her head, brow furrowed in thought, "We'd probably just never see either of you again, so how would you know if you'd won?"

Blake shrugged and sipped her soup directly from her bowl, spoon all but forgotten. After a small spell of silence, her gaze eventually returned to Weiss, who kept stealing discreet glances around the room whenever she wasn't watching the entrance like a hawk. "Are you... expecting someone?"

Weiss had hardly eaten a bite, and she was finding that her appetite had soured. She scowled at the Faunus girl, "Well, considering your crazed partner has been following me all _day, _I thought it would be prudent to prepare for the worst."

"Yang's been following you?" Ruby glanced up from her food.

"Please. Don't act like you have no idea. You were in the locker room showers this afternoon," the heiress shot back.

"The _showers?_" Blake's eyebrows shot into the stratosphere, equal measures amused and amazed that her partner was still alive after following Weiss Schnee into any place involving a lack of clothing. She took another sip of the strangely delicious noodley concoction the school was attempting to pass as soup, using the bowl to hide the mischievous smile beginning to pull at the corners of her mouth. "Is she on another pranking spree?"

"Unless the prank is 'act like a bumbling cretin with no sense of personal space'," the heiress spat, giving up all pretenses of eating dinner and resting an elbow on the table to massage her temple. Her jaw hurt from clenching her teeth together. "In which case this has been a _long_ prank."

Ruby started to wipe her hands on her leggings but caught herself and used a napkin instead, "Weiss, she... doesn't have the same sort of boundaries as most people. She's probably just trying to be nice."

Weiss glared at the younger girl, "I don't _want_ her to be 'nice'. I want her to stay away from me."

"Mmm. Well. She doesn't seem to have gotten that memo." Blake's eyes were looking past Ruby and Weiss, towards the entrance where Yang was currently sprinting towards them, an enormous bouquet of pristine coral roses in hand, no doubt picked simply for their vibrant coloring. It took every ounce of Blake's self control to keep from grinning at the... unusual choice.

The brawler skidded to a stop at the table's side and collapsed onto the bench across from Weiss, torso splayed out across the table, chest heaving with deep breaths from having run the entire way back from Vale's closest florist. "I... made it..." Smiling despite her face still being planted firmly on the table, Yang extended the bundle of flowers to the white-haired girl she so desperately wanted to apologize to. "These are... for you."

Desire.

Coral roses signified desire.

Years of studying the formal customs of the various kingdoms brought the knowledge to the heiress's mind unbidden. Weiss, half-risen from her seat, threw herself backwards so fast she tripped over the bench, knocking her head hard on the checkered cafeteria floor.

"Whoa," Ruby abandoned her seat and stooped to help Weiss up, "Are you okay?"

"_No_," Weiss struggled up on one elbow, shoving Ruby's hands away and clutching the back of her head, "I am not okay. I just fell over a _bench _and it's your sister's fault. Tell her to leave."

"Uh..." The scythe wielder looked from her partner to her sister, silver eyes all confusion.

Yang shot to her feet as well but froze in place, returning her little sister's look with one just as confused. She threw a helpless glance at Blake, who simply shrugged. Her grip on the flowers slackened. "You... want me to leave?"

"_Yes,_" Weiss got her legs disentangled from the bench and levered herself up off the floor, ignoring her disheveled appearance. She leveled her finger towards the double doors, "In fact, let me say it again in case that didn't get through your impossibly thick skull: I. Want. You. To. _Leave. Me. Alone."_

Ruby swallowed and put a hand on her shoulder, "Weiss, I think you should maybe-"

"_No,_" the heiress jerked away from her partner, her voice rising, "Don't touch me, any of you. Just _go._"

Yang stood stock still, silent, a slowly spreading pervasive heat the only evidence betraying any change in her disposition. "Oh. Well, OK then," the smile that suddenly spread across the blonde's features did nothing to hide the slight tremors shaking her entire body, knuckles white and cellophane crinkling as she gripped the bouquet hard enough to snap a few of the weaker stems. "I'll just... leave these here then." She gently placed the mangled flowers on the table. "I hope you like them!" Without another word the brawler pivoted on her heel and stormed out the nearby cafeteria exit as quickly as her feet would carry her.

Blake cringed and glanced back at Weiss, features caught between sympathy and scorn.

The heiress held her head high, glaring at the doors as they closed after Yang's retreating form. Good. She wanted her to leave. She sensed Ruby at her side and Blake giving her a look, but she told herself she didn't care.

The lack of sound brought Weiss's attention back to the surroundings. Tables next to theirs had gone quiet and suddenly the pressure of all her schoolmates' eyes on her was too much. Like if she didn't get out, she'd fracture into pieces.

She pushed past the unresisting Ruby to get down the aisle to one of the smaller fire exits set along the wall, leaving her plate mostly untouched beside the bouquet of detested coral roses.

* * *

A/N: HAPPY VALENTINES DAY dear readers! Enjoy that uh, tension and sadness. There were flowers, right? Ahahaha...

But you know, for our next project Fiercesomest and I just might be working on something... monochromatic...

Take that as you will ;3

Hugs,  
Defenestrator


	4. Unlucky Laundry

A/N: How do I always end up with the tense chapters? Ahahaha, ah well. Please accept this mountain of hugs.

Hugs,  
Defenestrator

* * *

Weiss wasn't sure when the laundry room became the go-to place to hide from one's teammates, but she couldn't go back to the dorm because Yang might be there, and it was a Friday night, which meant no one in their right mind was cleaning clothes, so the laundry room was at least logical as a choice for solitude.

The single strip of fluorescent lights hummed overhead. Weiss took one of the folding chairs under the narrow windows and dragged it to the space under the overhead cabinets full of cleaning supplies. She reflected briefly on the advantage of being partially concealed by the washers as she dropped her head into her hands.

It wasn't as if she hadn't tried to tell Yang to stop bothering her without shouting it in front of the whole school. She'd told her over and over, in fact, and Yang just didn't _listen_.

Weiss shut her eyes and concentrated on relaxing her jaw. It wasn't her fault that she'd made Yang upset. The brawler deserved it. She was in the wrong, and Weiss wasn't going to feel bad or, Dust-forbid, _lonely _about it. Why should she? There was absolutely no reason.

And yet... she rubbed at her eyes, fighting the telltale sting of tears.

The door to the laundry room swung open then, the very source of Weiss's frustration strolling right across the threshold, her crumpled uniform clutched securely in one hand. Sweaty, slouched, and dressed in her gym shorts and sports bra, Yang shuffled past the first few lockers, her vision largely blocked by the drenched orange handtowel she was using to wipe her face.

Weiss bolted upright, pressing herself back farther in the corner next to the washer. Dust dust _dust_, she couldn't see who'd come in but she did not want to be found crying in the laundry room, of all places.

Fortunately for the heiress, Yang's attention was elsewhere, focused at the moment on the washer near the center of the room where she had tossed her uniform and towel. Unfortunately, she had forgotten detergent. The brawler quietly glared down at the washer as though it had betrayed her. Heat began to swirl around her. The longer she stared at the washer the more her anger built. She knew it was irrational, but it had been a long day of nothing but failure after failure and Weiss definitely hated her and now this stupid detergentless washer was _mocking her _and _why couldn't she do anything right_. An earsplitting _CRACK _signaled the untimely end of the ill fated machine as Yang's fist plunged straight through it.

This was not an encouraging sight to Weiss, who held her breath, crushing herself back in her chair in the cobwebby corner between the washer and the wall. What had possessed _Yang _to choose this day, this hour, this handful of minutes, to wash her uniform and towel?

One part of her went tactical: how was she going to get past her? Weiss's blue eyes flickered up and across the portion of the room she could see, assessing the dimensions and if they would allow her to evade the brawler.

The other part knew she couldn't run forever. But what was she supposed to do? Yang had just punched a washing machine into oblivion. If the heiress tried to talk to her now, more than likely it would be the library all over again- all caging hugs and near-death experiences. She pulled her legs in a little farther and the edge of her boot upset an empty bottle of detergent. It made a hollow sound as it tipped over. Weiss grabbed for it to keep it quiet, but it was too late.

Yang whirled around at the sound, finally taking note of her surroundings. The room was silent, save for the pitiful mechanical hissing coming from the crushed washing machine before her. She would have thought the laundry room empty, it not for the blue plastic bottle slowly rolling across the floor at the end of the row of washers. Eager for a distraction from her latest destruction of school property - she was probably going to get some kind of detention, _again _\- the brawler strolled over to the corner of the washroom, expecting to find a mouse, maybe a small lizard. She did _not _expect to find the Schnee heiress herself crushed into the corner, hiding among the cobwebs like an overgrown spider. Yang's already-exhausted brain finally ground to a halt, and all she could do was stare.

Weiss reacted immediately by summoning a glyph. A blue ring of light sprang up at once beneath Yang's feet, pinning them to the spot. No matter how the brawler tried, her boots would be stuck as hard as if they'd been nailed down.

The heiress held the glyph, swallowing as she tried to piece together something to say.

Amethyst eyes blinked slowly, finally registering that it was, in fact, _Weiss _sitting in the chair before her, hiding in the corner of the laundry room... What was she _doing _here? She didn't hear any of the washers or dryers running... Why wasn't she back at the dorm? But even more than that... The brawler's eyes drifted downwards to the glyph lighting up the floor beneath her feet.

Yang tested each foot, one after the other, finding both rooted solidly to the ground. What on Remnant was Weiss trying to do, holding her in place like this, effectively blocking her own exit? She tested a foot again, with a little more effort this time. The glyph held fast. She met the heiress's eyes, not bothering to hide her weariness.

"I thought... you wanted me to stay away?"

Weiss searched Yang's face, scowling. The lack of red eyes was a good sign. She spoke slowly, not trusting her voice to remain steady after she'd been not-crying in the corner of the laundry room for the past half hour.

"I do want you to stay away. Hence this," she lifted her hand, and the glyph pulsed slightly, burning bright against the concrete flooring as she maintained it.

Yang's eyebrows lifted a fraction of an inch at the barest hint of a hitch in Weiss's voice. Her eyes raked over the smaller girl, searching for the telltale signs - red, puffy eyes, damp cheeks. It was glaringly obvious.

"You've been crying," she scowled fiercely, "Did someone mess with you?" For a brief moment, heat poured through her, and she envisioned punching right through a nameless aggressor's face… only for things to suddenly click into place. She saw her own face.

_She _was the aggressor. Yang's eyes widened.

"It was me, wasn't it?" She gave in to the glyph's pull and sat heavily on the floor, face buried in her hands. "It was me."

For a second the only sound was the hum of the lights overhead and the trickle of water from the busted washing machine. Weiss's lips twisted into a snarl and she scrubbed her eyes in a futile attempt to erase the evidence Yang had already seen. She bit her words out, "You realized that just now?"

The sharp sting of the heiress's cynical tone stabbed straight through the brawler's sorrow, sparking a flicker of defiance at being kicked while she was down. "Yes, actually, I did." Yang lifted her head, looking Weiss straight in the eye. "But did _you_ ever stop to think that maybe I was just trying to be nice? Maybe I just wanted to help you relax? And maybe, _just maybe_, I'm not constantly out to kill you?"

"The only times I'm even _remotely _concerned about you killing me are when you're holding onto me _while you're literally on fire_," the heiress shot back, meeting Yang's glare. She held her glyph hard in the shape of her hand.

"Don't even bring my semblance into this," Yang snarled, feeling the very heat of which they were speaking begin to course through her veins. She knew she wasn't helping, but sometimes Weiss could just be so _infuriating._ "If you're so afraid of fire, maybe you should stop trying so hard to invoke it with all those lovely kicks and punches you seem to love to shower me with whenever I so much as brush your sleeve with a _fingertip_."

"Excuse me?" Weiss's color rose. The cabinets overhead didn't leave room for her to stand, "Lifting me bodily off the ground hardly counts as 'brushing my sleeve', though it's good to know that activating your semblance doesn't activate_ brain cells_. Next time I need to get through to you I'll be sure to try something else."

Small flames began to flicker about as Yang struggled to her feet. "Try something else, huh? You mean like trying to yank out a fistful of my hair?" Her eyes darkened, "Oh, that got through to me all right," she all but growled, fists clenching at her sides.

"That's the _one_ time you've let go of me when I've asked," Weiss's hand shook with the effort of maintaining her glyph. Her voice was dangerously near breaking, "Every other instance you've ignored me, or pretended not to hear- I don't even know- you just won't _listen_."

"I _do _listen," Yang shot back, nearly stumbling forward when she tried and failed to stamp her foot for emphasis. She righted herself, cursing the glyph beneath her feet as she crossed her arms. "I mean, I know I can get a little carried away when I'm excited, but... Why didn't you come talk to me about this? You know, pull me aside, calmly and rationally, maybe even without all the anger and shouting? Maybe _let me know _that I've been bothering you? I'm not _psychic _Weiss."

Weiss looked as if she'd been struck. She had never met anyone who failed to cease and desist when she let loose her temper. Her vicious words and icy demeanor generally got the message across, and that message was consistently 'Look, don't touch'.

There was Ruby, of course, but the dark-haired girl was quick to shy off when Weiss was done with a hug. Yang, however, didn't seem to possess the same empathetic streak, nor did she seem to possess the common sense that connected 'Weiss shrieking and struggling' to 'Weiss being bothered'_. _To top it all off, the blonde brawler was calling her irrational- a descriptor the heiress abhorred to her very core.

Her expression went cold. Stone cold. Glacier cold. She released the glyph trapping Yang's boots to the floor and said nothing.

Yang blinked, loosening her stance a bit as she her gaze bounced from Weiss to her own feet and back again. A cautious shuffle of one foot confirmed it - she could move. Was Weiss asking her to leave? No - assumptions would just lead to more confusion. And yet, Weiss was currently doing her best imitation of a statue; cold, unmoving, and utterly silent. The brawler scowled, "OK, so, I ask you to talk to me, and I get the silent treatment, awesome. You know, we _really _need to work on our communication skills." Normally, this was where she would step forward to emphasize her point, but with Weiss physically backed into a corner, she settled for opening her arms in a pleading gesture. "_Talk to me._"

"And say what?" the heiress's tone was bitter and clipped. "That I'm sorry you somehow failed to understand that I don't appreciate your rough treatment, and that everything's fine and we should be best friends now?"

"Oh for the love of-" this time, Yang did stamp her foot, a small eruption of flame reflecting in her furious glare. "Weiss, are you _trying _to start a fight? For your information _yes_ I would actually like us to be friends, but right now you are making that dream an absolute _nightmare._"

"Oh, so this is _my_ fault," Weiss abandoned the folding chair, shoulders square, ignoring the bits of dust and web clinging to her jacket sleeves. Her mouth twisted into a snarl, "It's my fault that I'm not 'calm and rational' when _you walk in on me in the shower_, is that it? Maybe shutting up while you drag me out from under tables in the library would solve everything? You're deranged. You're _psychotic. _I put up with you on a regular basis because we're _teammates_ and you- you-"

Weiss reigned herself in. Still blocked in her corner by the bigger girl, she announced, "I can't talk to you like this. You need to leave."

With each venomous word tossed her way, Yang felt her self control slip bit by bit, bleeding from her fingertips in flickering flames. It wasn't like she couldn't see the logic in what Weiss was saying, but the accusatory tone was completely unnecessary, and the personal attacks were simply uncalled for. It was one thing when an enemy insulted her - all the more reason to beat them senseless with a smile - but when it came from Weiss, someone she _thought _was a friend... Even if... maybe she was right... The harsh delivery was too much.

The brawler squared her shoulders and drew herself to her full height, but refused to meet the smaller girl's eyes. "You're right. I do."

Without another word, she pivoted on her heel and stormed away, trailing fire.

The icy heiress waited till Yang was out of earshot. Her fists were clenched so hard they shook as she resisted the urge to throw her folding chair into the pile of scrap metal that had once been a washing machine.

Mastering herself, Weiss turned, stalking to the narrow windows in the far wall. The stars outside were lost to the harsh glare of the laundry room lights.

She white-knuckled her scroll. The four symbols of her team gleamed in metal along the back of the device.


	5. How to Fix a Broken Team

"We looked _everywhere_," Ruby groaned from her back, sprawled on her bunk. Her legs hung over one edge and her arms over the other. After Weiss's explosion in the cafeteria, she had dragged Blake around the school in search of the missing heiress. Give the heiress a little cool-down time, and maybe she would want to talk. Maybe not. You never knew with Weiss. Ruby gripped fist-fulls of her dark hair, scraping the bottom of the where-could-Weiss-be-hiding barrel as she addressed Blake down below, "Do you think she went into Vale? Or maybe she's hiding with Neptune and Sun?"

Sitting with crossed legs on the edge of her bed, Blake rested her chin on her fist and frowned in thought, equally stumped as to the heiress's whereabouts. The search for Yang had been a cakewalk - both she and Ruby knew the brawler's predilection for... physical forms of relaxation. It wasn't long before they found her utterly thrashing the training equipment in the gym, while still in uniform no less. They'd decided not to interrupt.

The search for Weiss on the other hand... that girl could disappear into thin air when she really wanted to. Though, maybe Ruby's idea about Sun and Neptune had some merit... "I can message them to check if they've seen her around," Blake offered as she pulled out her scroll. It bleeped with a new message just as she activated the screen. Her eyebrows inched upwards. "Actually, I just got a message... from Weiss."

"What?! Let me see!"" Ruby bolted upright. In a flash of scattered petals, she was on Blake's bed, halfway on top of her to look over her shoulders at the message.

_Blake, would you be willing to do me a favor?_

_\- Weiss S._

Ruby sank back, brow pinched with worry. She scooted to the edge of the bed to sit next to Blake, "... do you think she's okay?"

"Let's find out..." Blake's fingers flew across the scroll's small keys in her haste to respond.

_Of course. Is everything all right? Where are you?_

_\- BB_

* * *

_I'm fine. Meet me in the laundry room in a few minutes. Please don't bring Ruby._

\- Weiss S.

The heiress shut her scroll and pulled a chair up by the window. Getting ganged up on by her two, doubtless disapproving teammates when she was looking for help did not appeal to her at all, and between the two of them Blake was the one Yang would probably take more seriously.

The wrecked washing machine gave a last, dying hiss over against the wall. Weiss didn't regret coming to Beacon- not for a second. But while combat practice and missions had become all but second nature to her, functioning as part of a team in their off hours continued to be... difficult. Especially for her, it seemed. _Especially_ when one of her teammates was Yang Xiao Long.

She gripped her scroll in the deserted laundry room and waited.

* * *

It wasn't long before Blake found herself heading down the eerily silent hallway that led to the laundry room, the only sounds coming from the soft echoes of her quick light steps - faster than the relaxed stroll she usually maintained to keep pace with her friends, as she was making this trip alone. Though Ruby had seemed crestfallen at the request for her to stay behind, the younger girl had agreed to it pretty quickly... perhaps too quickly. Blake cast a suspicious glance behind her, half-expecting to catch a swish of rose petals. She found only the dark, empty halls - honestly, a perfect place to find some peace and quiet, now that she thought about it. Weiss really knew how to pick her hiding spots.

A dark line on the ground caught Blake's eye as she came to a stop before the door to the laundry room. An experimental scuff with one boot revealed it to be an ashen scorch mark. That... wasn't a good sign. Steeling herself for whatever she might find, Blake pushed the door open, wincing as the hinges let loose with a resounding creak not unlike those found in a cheap B-horror film. The sight that met her eyes wasn't much better. Water pooled on the floor, trickling out from a crushed washing machine, muddling the telltale blackened line that led to a much larger mark near the corner, where the line of windows began, Weiss herself sitting in a chair just nearby.

A cursory check revealed no visible injuries on the heiress's person, at which Blake let slip a sigh of relief. She crossed the room, taking care to splash in the water a bit to alert Weiss to her presence, sat on the nearest washer, and waited.

Weiss had been watching the shift in the leaves near one of the lights out in the courtyard. She looked up when Blake perched on one of the washing machines.

The heiress remained silent for a handful of seconds and even looked away again, gathering up the words she'd planned out before she addressed the dark-haired girl. "I need you to talk to Yang."

Another sigh escaped Blake's lips, this time in resignation. She crossed her arms, subconsciously bracing herself.

"No."

Weiss gave herself credit for expecting this, but still her fists clenched in her lap. She was _not _going to cry. "Please."

Blake's expression softened, the unusually earnest request eating away at her resolve. "...Tell me what happened."

"It's just... she's just been after me all day," Weiss glanced slantwise out the window to avoid Blake's amber gaze, "I don't think I can make her understand, and I thought if you talked with her first it would help."

"Weiss," Blake braced her hands on the washer to lean forward, "I _could _talk to Yang, but... then, what's to stop this from happening again? We happen to be part of an incredibly dangerous line of work. I might not always be around to serve as an intermediary." A wry smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. "I'd hate to have you two bickering at my funeral." She sat back again, "I can help you think of what to say... but whatever it is you want to say, you really should tell her yourself. I know Yang can come off as intimidating, but she really does mean well," Blake tilted her head, "Just like you, come to think of it."

"I'm not intimidated," Weiss bristled. "She just..." she noted Blake's look and took a second to tone things down, tracing the edge of the windowpane. The glass was cool under her fingertips. "I don't think she hears what I'm trying to say," Weiss felt stupid for not being able to figure out how to solve this on her own. By virtue of her upbringing, she was able to force herself to meet Blake's eyes even though she would really rather have not, "You don't have to, but you kind of said you understood that time, after we brought back Ruby's cloak, right? Maybe- could you explain it to her? That I just don't like being carried around, or... or otherwise manhandled."

Blake raised a finger and pointed at her distressed friend. "That. That right there is what you need to tell Yang. I'm not certain she'll take it to heart if she hears it secondhand." Her eyes briefly darted to the ground and back. She really did want to help, as she felt partially responsible for putting ideas in Yang's head in the first place... "But, if you want, I can be there with you when you talk to her."

Weiss scowled, frustrated. She'd _been_ telling Yang, with words, with actions- what else could she even try? She was _not _going to apologize.

"I… I suppose having you there might help," she said doubtfully. A beat passed in silence. "Would you be opposed to trying tonight? If she's not still out destroying school property."

"Sooner would be better than later..." Blake nodded, slipping from the washer back to the floor and heading towards the laundry room's single door that functioned as both entrance and exit. She looked over her shoulder to make sure Weiss was following her, "Let's send a message to Ruby - see if Yang's back at the dorm."

Weiss straightened the chair she'd been using and brushed a little more dust off her sleeve before sighing, knowing she was just putting off following Blake. This was such a mess.

Even with Blake acting as referee, Weiss didn't have high hopes of this going well at all.

* * *

**A/N: Right, so anyone new to us should know that back in Road to Recovery, Blake and Weiss had a short discussion about personal space- one which Weiss figured Blake could relay to Yang.  
**

**Ha! So much for the easy way out.**

**See you next week,**

**-Fiercesomest**


	6. Cookies

After Blake had left to meet Weiss in the laundry room, Ruby had set out to check up on Yang. It had been a while- usually her cool-off work-out sessions didn't take much more than an hour. However, the gym they'd spotted her in earlier was deserted, as were the showers.

This called for a search.

"Hm..." Ruby rubbed her chin and frowned at the scorch marks on the tile flooring in the circle of her flashlight beam. The lights were on, of course, but this added more of an air of mystery to the whole affair. The marks led down the hall and followed them to the cafeteria. Or to the kitchens, rather. Light spilled from the back entrance, which seemed to be missing its door. Ruby shone her flashlight on a wide platform of oak laid out in the grass. She poked her head inside the kitchens to see her sister busy at work. "Yang? Why is the kitchen door out on the lawn?"

"Ruby!" Yang looked up from her pile of assorted flours, butters, leavenings, and sugars, glanced at the door her sister was speaking of, and winced. "Hey, uh, yeah so that door, you know, it was stuck and..." Sheepish amethyst dared to meet silver, and the brawler withered under her little sister's incredulous stare. It was impossible to lie to that face.

"The door is a casualty. I... might have had a fight with Weiss," she motioned to the spread before her and added quickly, "that's why I'm trying to make cookies! But I don't even know what she likes... I don't even know if she'll _want _them, I mean - she didn't take the flowers I brought and... Ruby _help me._"

"Oh, uh," Ruby stepped into the kitchen, her cloak catching on and upsetting a couple of pans hung from the steel counters. She scrambled to fix the snarled cookware, "You, um, want me to stir?"

"No - well, I mean, sure?" Yang caught her little sister's shoulders as she came closer, leaning down with imploring eyes. "What I meant was help me with _Weiss_. How do you handle her so well?"

"Er, I don't really handle her at all," Ruby grimaced a little bit at her sister's distress. Yang had a way of being a little bit overbearing with the people she felt comfortable around, and it appeared that Weiss had gotten added to that ever-extending list. Ruby took a second to appreciate the sheer volume of cookie dough Yang had put together. By the time she finished, she'd be able to tile the floor in chocolate chip if she wanted. "So... I guess she was pretty mad earlier, huh?"

"She called me psychotic," Yang muttered, cringing. The memory of the heated exchange sparked that same anger that had ruined her ability to think beforehand, so she pulled away, returning to the relaxing familiarity of her mass baking project. "I always knew Weiss never really liked me much but... but I wanted to _change _that. I still want to." Two sticks of butter slowly softened in the brawler's unnaturally warm hands, and she tossed them into a nearby bowl, starting yet another batch - peanut butter this time. Weiss had never told her what her favorite flavor was... so she would just make everything she knew how to make. _One _of them would have to be right.

"I thought maybe if I was nicer... but I think I might have been too forward," she continued without missing a beat, pausing briefly after reaching over a batch of chocolate-chocolate-chip to grab a couple of eggs. "No... I know I was too forward. But she didn't _say _anything to me about it." The eggs cracked and shattered in her hands - she'd been gripping them too tightly. Swearing under her breath so that Ruby couldn't hear - her little sister was a stickler for clean language - Yang tossed the slimy mangled shells into her designated failure bowl, already swimming with at least a dozen eggs crushed in her initial fumbling rage.

"She just _won't talk to me._" Bright yellow yolk and slick eggwhites splattered across the countertop as the frustrated brawler tried and failed miserably to gently crack one of her new eggs on the smooth marble finish. She handed the other to Ruby, head lowered in defeat.

"My dearest sister Yang," Ruby took the one egg and snuck her free arm around Yang's middle, shoving into her with a playful side-hug, "Are you aware of exactly how bizarre that sounds? Weiss? Not talking? You're sure you're thinking of the right teammate?"

Yang frowned, but felt better for the hug. She wrapped her own arm around her little sister's shoulders. "Well, she sure does yell a lot. But that doesn't_ count._"

"She's still telling you stuff, just in a prickly, Weiss-y kind of way," Ruby pointed out, she pulled her arm from around Yang and passed the egg back and forth from one hand to another, "Yeah, the yelling thing isn't great, but I dunno. It seems like she didn't really have a lot of friends back home in Atlas, at least she never really talks about them or writes to them, you know? I didn't have a _ton_ of friends at Signal, besides, I had Crescent Rose to take care of, and Blake… well, I guess we don't actually know, but Weiss doesn't really like doing stuff on her own the way we do. It doesn't seem like it, anyway," her gaze slid to the floor and she scuffed her boots on the old-school flagstones, "I mean, you can usually tell she's feeling bad when she hides off by herself."

"Yeah?... Yeah, actually she didn't look very happy when I found her hiding in the laundry room..." Yang's arm slipped from Ruby's shoulders as her entire being sagged with guilt. "...I think I made her cry."

Ruby's heart dropped at that. She stole a glance back up at her sister, drawing a total blank on encouraging things to say.

_Click_. The sound of a special, heavy-duty dust round being chambered played from the scroll in her skirt pocket. She nearly dropped the egg in her hands as she fished for the device.

She looked over Blake's message and nudged Yang with her shoulder, "So... um, looks like Blake's got Weiss, and they want to talk."

"What? Really?" Yang perked up. "Like, right now?" Her eyes cast a furtive glance around at the organized chaos of cookies and dough littering what was once a neat and tidy kitchenspace. She paled visibly. "Please tell me they aren't coming _here._"

Ruby looked up from hitting send, noticing the mess. "...oh. I could write them again and tell them not to?"

* * *

**A/N: I'm feeling the urge to make cookies now.**

**Hugs,**  
**Defenestrator**


	7. Icicles

Weiss walked with Blake down the sparsely lighted walkway to the cafeteria. It was chilly out, and wispy clouds had blown in from the east to partially mask the broken moon hanging low in the sky

"Aren't the kitchens closed at this time of night?" Weiss grumbled, attempting to maintain her nerve for speaking to Yang.

"Normally, yes," Blake replied, tilting her head as she gazed through one of the huge floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked one of the school's many courtyards.

At first glance, it looked like the back doorway to the kitchens was wide open, but the moon overhead, shattered and obscured though it was, provided more than enough light for her Faunus eyes to see a sizable oak door lying in the grass nearby. Amber eyes flicked to Weiss, checking to make sure she hadn't seen. Hopefully it was too dark - the heiress was skittish enough as it was. As they neared the kitchens, Blake offered Weiss her most reassuring smile, doing her best to completely ignore the odd sounds coming from beyond the door.

Weiss, on the other hand, was immediately on guard. What sounded like a hurricane of crashing pots, pans, and who knows what else didn't bode particularly well for a quiet conversation. Noting the twisted remains of metal hinges clinging to the door frame, she hung back, suggesting primly, "Maybe we should wait till tomorrow."

Blake's eyes rolled. "Come on, Weiss," she grasped the hesitant heiress's hand and pulled her through the door, smiling back at her rather than looking at where she was going. "I'm sure everything is-"

_SPLAT_

"-.._._fine." Decadent red velvet cookie dough dripped from the side of Blake's face onto the floor, thrown full force by none other than the very brawler that they were here to see. The entire room was a warzone of baked goods - not a single surface left unmarred.

"Oh jeeze, sorry Blake!" Yang waved, hands stained blood-red with food coloring, looking very much like a crazed slasher that had just massacred her latest victim. She cringed when she realized her last projectile had nearly hit Weiss. Shining through the sticky sugary mess sliding down her face, Blake's bright amber eyes shot Yang a look that practically screamed _you're not helping. _Yang hid her hands behind her back. "Uh... hey there... Weiss..."

The heiress stood frozen for a second, taking in the sugar-sludge and dough-splattered surroundings.

Ruby popped her head up from behind a fortified pile of stockpots, her dark hair streaked with flour and red velvet.

Weiss turned on her heel and strode from the kitchen.

Blake paused in the middle of wiping the streaks of red from her face when she felt Weiss's fingers leave her grasp. "Weiss-"

"Weiss, wait!" Yang vaulted over the kitchen's island, upending bowls of half finished mixtures and sending basic ingredients flying every which way in her haste to stop the heiress from leaving. A poorly placed pile of ginger cookie dough that had been used as ammunition thwarted her landing, taking her feet right out from underneath her, dropping her into a wild slide right past Weiss and Blake, and sending her crashing into the wall. The brawler sprang back up to her feet, hair standing out at odd angles but otherwise unfazed. "You never told me what your favorite cookie is..."

Weiss was already out the door.

"I'm... not sure if her favorite cookie is really very important at this point," Ruby joined the others near the door, offering Blake an only slightly dirty kitchen towel to help with the mess on her face.

"Weiss wait!" Yang made to chase after the heiress, but a hand firmly gripped her arm, holding her in place. She whirled in place to find Blake leveling a stern gaze at her.

"Yang." Blake paused, waiting until she had the brawler's full attention to continue. "Right now," she lifted a hand high above her head, "you are here. You need to be..." she lowered her hand to chest level, "here."

Yang nodded, chest and shoulders expanding and contracting as she took a deep calming breath. "Right. Got it."

"Good," Blake smiled, releasing her partner's arm and giving her a light shove. "Go on then. We'll be right here if you need us."

"OK," Yang stumbled forward, throwing a thankful smile over her shoulder before turning and zeroing her focus in on the luminous shock of white.

* * *

The frustrated heiress had marched over to one of the lamp posts lining the sidewalk in back of the kitchens to stand, arms crossed. It had rained the day before, and the concrete was smeared with dirt and leaves. The pale burning Dust-powered light caught in Weiss's hair so it almost glowed.

The closer Yang got, the more her steps lightened and slowed. She came to a stop right beside Weiss and crossed her arms to match the heiress's stance. "... Hey again."

Weiss took several deliberate paces across the pool of light, positioning herself outside of Yang's reach before giving her any sort of acknowledgement. 'Acknowledgement' in this case being a toss of her hair and a stubborn silence.

Getting the cold shoulder yet again stung a bit, but Yang held her ground, shifting just enough to lean her back up against the cool metal of the lamp post. Amethyst eyes carefully studied Weiss's profile, watching, waiting for any sign of movement, but the dead silence was starting to get to her. She finally gave up waiting and took another deep breath, lifting her gaze to the sky. "So... last time didn't go so well... Can we start over? Whatever you want to say, I'm listening."

Weiss glanced at Yang, not fully convinced. A cold breeze stirred the leaves of the trees standing in the small yard near the path behind the kitchens. Standing around in the dark was stupid. She considered simply walking away, but teams at Beacon shared rooms without exception, so she'd have to deal with the fiery disaster every day no matter how things fell out. Steeling herself, Weiss lifted her chin a fraction of an inch, "I don't want you to touch me."

Yang couldn't help visibly flinching at the declaration, certain now that her carelessness had driven a permanent wedge between them. Still, she had promised to listen, so she was _going to listen. _

"...All right," she sighed, burning with the desire to ask _why _but dreading an answer along the lines of _'because I hate you'._

The silence following Yang's response got Weiss's attention. She turned her head a little to scour the other girl's face for any and all indications that she was being serious, "Don't try to give me things, and _don't _walk in on me in the shower."

Each stipulation drove the wedge deeper (reasonable though the latter demand may have been), causing a strange sense of coldness to creep up on the usually fiery brawler - almost as though she were taking icicles to the heart. Gaze still trained on the night sky, she idly wondered if the stars were dancing, refusing to acknowledge the water building in her eyes even as a crooked smile crossed her features. "I'm guessing this means... you don't want any cookies?"

Weiss maintained her distance, bitter at the tears gleaming in the other girl's eyes. It wasn't fair how terrible the sight of Yang's hurt made her feel. She drove the ice in harder, "Why would you think that I even liked cookies? Or flowers? Or for Dust's sake, _massages_? Honestly, do I seem like the type of person who enjoys having someone else's hands all over me?"

"Wait, so..." Yang finally met Weiss's gaze and squinted, as though she were puzzling out an incredibly complex equation. "You... don't like cookies? Like at all? Or flowers? Or massages? No matter who they're from?"

"No, I don't," She remembered Ruby's rose petals and hesitated, turning her head away from Yang, her white side-tail trailing the motion. "Well. I might accept flowers from certain individuals under specific circumstances, but in general no. And from you, no."

"Right... the flowers might not have been the best idea," Yang admitted, casting a quick accusatory glance over her shoulder to the kitchens where she knew Blake was lurking. "But - so with the massages... does this dislike apply to hugs too? Or even... touch in general? From anyone? Not just..." the brawler paused, visibly steeling herself for the worst, "not just me?"

Weiss remained silent a moment, processing Yang's words.

"... is that what this is about? You think that it's just you?" the heiress scowled at the brick path. That would explain the sudden rash of unwanted affection. Somehow, Weiss had managed to convince each of her teammates that she hated them in turn—she'd had talks with Ruby and Blake in the past. Now it was Yang's turn. How did this keep happening?

Stupid. Unacceptable. What kind of teammate made her partners feel so terrible. Not that it was all her fault. It wasn't all her fault. Still. She needed time to figure this out.

"Look, I just..." Weiss's voice broke and she had to clear her throat to regain her composure, "I'm finished talking about this."

Yang faltered, unsure of what to say. She really wanted to talk things through, but being too forward was what got them into this mess in the first place, so pushing didn't seem like a great idea... For lack of any better ideas, the brawler decided simply to speak her mind, fidgeting as her words tumbled out in a jumbled mess. "Weiss, right now you look really down and... I want to give you a hug - to make you feel better! - but that's... not going to help you feel better at all, is it?"

"No, it's not," the offer coming before the action was not lost on Weiss, however. The temperature had continued to drop as the night deepened. Weiss straightened her jacket, pretending to ignore the cold. "I'm going inside. You should fix that door."

Maybe that project would buy the heiress a little time to think.

* * *

Ruby peeked around the edge of the kitchen doorway, watching her partner and her sister out on the path. They didn't look happy, but they hadn't killed each other yet. She noted Blake's perked ears and whispered, "What are they saying? Should we help?"

Leaning against the other edge of the kitchen doorway, Blake turned her head just enough to glance over at Ruby out of the corner of her eye. Even with her bow muffling things a bit, her hearing was just strong enough to pick up the majority of her teammate's conversation when she really concentrated. "Sounds like they're finally getting somewhere..." a frown pulled at the edge of her lips, "But it also sounds like Weiss is running."

Blake peered around her own edge of the doorway, mirroring her team leader. Yang was already slowly headed their way, seemingly no worse for the wear. The brawler stopped less than a foot away, casting a curious glance back and forth between the two faces staring out at her from the very doorway she intended to fix. "... Hey guys," she smirked, "Have fun eavesdropping?"

Blake nodded. "Always."

"Is Weiss okay? Are _you_ okay?" Ruby shuffled her boots on the tile as she looked up at her big sister, shoulders slumped with awkward uncertainty of how to help.

Yang's smirk slipped. "I don't know about Weiss," she reached over to ruffle Ruby's hair, half to comfort her little sister, and half to comfort herself. "She seemed... frustrated."

Bright amber eyes trailed after the heiress in question, currently stalking off into the night. Fully prepared to track down her icy teammate yet again if needed, Blake took care to note the direction Weiss was headed.

"I think I'm all right," Yang's brightened tone caught Blake's attention. The brawler's arms were up, flexing to show her fortitude, but they dropped to her sides shortly thereafter. "I might... need a hug though."

"Gotcha covered," Ruby ducked in close, hugging Yang super-hard around her middle. She jerked away, wiping at her face, "Oh, gross, is this raw egg? Ew, yuck!"

"Hey, _you're_ the one who threw it at me," Yang playfully flicked Ruby's forehead. A hand tugged at her arm, and she glanced over to see Blake trying to pull her inside.

"Come on, let's get this place cleaned up and go find Weiss before she decides to go hide in another laundry room."

* * *

The dorm room door shut behind Weiss. The walk and the cold left her flushed, and the discussion with Yang had been... enlightening, to say the least. She strode to her desk, clicked on her reading lamp, and fetched up a paper and pen from her supplies. The idea she'd had to fix things- or at least attempt to mitigate the damages- reeked of idiocy, but, well, it was better than nothing.

The high quality writing instrument had a steadying weight to it, though; its silver clip reflected the lamplight as Weiss considered how to shape what she was going to say.

* * *

**A/N: Just one more chapter guys. Drop us a review and stay tuned!  
**

**On a completely different note, **** HAPPY ONCE-A-CENTURY PI DAY! (****3/14/15 9:26)**

**I am about to make so many muffin-pan pies. **

**Baking skills, don't fail me now.**

**-Fiercesomest**


	8. A Step in the Right Direction

**A/N: I'm operating on like 40 hours of being awake, so forgive me if this is slightly incoherence but I hope you guys enjoy this final installment and thank you for being best readers, seriously, forever.**

**Hugs,**  
**Defenestrator**

* * *

It took the better part of two hours, but with the door fixed - it hung at an odd angle and didn't close properly, but it was close enough - and the kitchen spotless, the trio filtered out of the main kitchen entrance and trudged their way back to the dorm to drop off two whole picnic baskets filled with various cookies made from whatever salvageable dough they'd come across during their cleaning spree. They would begin their search from there.

Excess energy kept Yang walking at the head of the group, but she stopped short in front of the door to their dorm, basket in each hand. "Hm. Yeah, going to need some help here."

"Ugh, I feel like we just cleaned half of Remnant. You don't really think Weiss has been in the laundry room this whole time, do you?" Ruby brushed dried bits of red velvet out of her hair and frowned at the bleach-smell that clung to her hands. She zipped over to Yang's aide in a flurry of rose petals, unlocking and holding open the door to the darkened room. The space had that quiet feel a room gets when someone is sleeping, and Ruby went silent at once.

A bar of light from the hall fell in a wide stripe along the floor of the room, making things bright enough for the three teammates to see the spill of snowy hair across Weiss's pillow. She slept on her side, the blankets rising and falling subtly with her breathing. A sheet of white parchment paper was tacked to the corner of Ruby's bunk at eye level.

The flawless script read:

_Gestures of affection currently accepted and appreciated by Weiss Schnee_

_One (1) cup of coffee, hot, with one (1) sugar when I wake up._

_One (1) cookie no larger than the mouth of a common mug._

_This list is subject to change. Also, I do not hate any of you three. _

It was signed simply 'Weiss'.

Yang was first through the door, miraculously quiet as she set the baskets of cookies on Blake's desk and moved to stare at the pristine note. She read it through once, twice, and a third time, before whipping around with a huge grin and whispering, "_Coffee,_" as though it were the greatest revelation in the world.

With a smile and a roll of the eyes for good measure, Blake came forward to examine the note herself, taking a moment to admire the exquisite penmanship. She couldn't help but smile at the message - terse at first glance but with an underlying sweetness, much like the author herself. Not to mention it was always good to have it in writing that you weren't hated.

"Coffee huh? Are you really going to get up earlier than Weiss?" Blake whispered, side-eyeing her overexcited partner.

"_Yes._"

"Only one sugar?" Ruby made a face, reading the note over Blake's shoulder. She broke away to cup her hands to her sister's ear and whisper, "Yang, I'll help pick the cookie. Should we put it on a plate or something?"

Yang pulled Ruby into their traditional conspiratorial side-hug and whispered back, "Thanks sis. And yes. Yes we should... a cookie... on a plate... that's on a _doily._"

Blakes eyes rolled yet again, and she shoved the sisters towards the bathroom with a barely concealed smile. "You two really shouldn't be doing _anything _until you clean yourselves up."

Ruby looked down at her flour and other baked-goods splattered self, her still voice hushed, "Wow, we're a mess. But first, good job, team. I mean, um," she shrugged, pointing toward Weiss's list, "this could all probably have gone a lot smoother and maybe with a little less yelling in the middle of the cafeteria, but it seems like we're all pretty much okay now, so let's keep it up."

Meanwhile, under the covers, the heiress lay still, her breathing schooled into an even cadence, mimicking sleep. She was facing away from her teammates, and it was dark, so there was no way they'd notice her small sigh of relief. The note had worked. They hadn't just laughed, or missed it altogether.

Now she could really get some real rest.

* * *

Silence blanketed the dorm by the time Yang was finished with her shower, broken only by the mournful creek of the bathroom door as the brawler slipped out as quietly as possible. Her shower had taken almost as long as one of Weiss's thanks to the near-entire batch of various cookie doughs matted throughout her golden locks. Nearly half a bottle of shampoo later, she was finally clean.

Determined not to wake anyone, Yang crept on tiptoe over to her dresser and changed into sleepwear. Much to her chagrin, one of the drawers stuck slightly when she tried to close it, jerking shut just loud enough to make her wince and glance back at her sleeping teammates. None of them stirred. With a quick sigh of relief, Yang stole another glance across the room at Weiss, still sleeping peacefully, and smiled wide.

It hadn't been easy, but she was finally figuring out the final member of their little family, and armed with her hard-won newfound knowledge, she was going to do everything in her power to help the icy girl feel appreciated. No more sad heiresses hiding in laundry rooms to cry, _ever_ \- not if she could help it. Grinning and filled with resolve anew, Yang climbed up into her bunk, ready to collapse.

She stopped short at the sight of a small black book lying on her pillow, one single flower closed inside it as a bookmark. Squinting in confusion, Yang picked up the mysterious item, turning the book over in her hands, but finding no title of any sort. Upon closer inspection, she realized the flower was one of the awesome-colored roses from her bouquet to Weiss. What had the florist called them? Coral?

Curiosity piqued, Yang leaned over into the small patch of moonlight shining down on her bed and cracked the book open to the page being held by the flower. Inside, she found a scrap of paper, with a short note that read simply:

_For your future edification. _

_PS. Sorry for giving you bad ideas._

There was no signature, but Yang had copied Blake's notes enough times to recognize her hasty-yet-somehow-neat scrawl. Edification? What was she talking about? Yang took a closer look at the contents of the page, starting with the paragraph that had been underlined in red ink.

_Coral Roses_

_These vibrant flowers, with their subtle, dusky hues, have long been associated with expressing desire, and_

Yang shut the book. With calm, measured movements, she shoved the book, flower and all, under her pillow and laid down, pulling the covers up over her head.

She was never buying flowers for anyone, _ever _again.

* * *

**A/N: Again, thanks for the reviews. We'll be back next week with a brand new fic (and also more sleep) so keep your eyes peeled.**

**Till next time,**

**\- Fiercesomest**


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